Who should audition or interview?
High school seniors and transfer students seeking acceptance into the Millikin B.F.A. programs in Acting or Musical Theatre must audition for consideration on one of the dates listed below. All performance auditions (Musical Theatre and Acting) must be completed on or before March 20, 2015. Consideration for Talent Awards will not be extended beyond the final audition date. Please contact the Audition/Interview Coordinator at (217) 424-6282 or at theatredance@millikin.edu to set up your audition.

High school seniors and transfer students seeking acceptance into the Millikin B.F.A. programs in Design/Technical, Stage Management or Theatre Administration must interview for consideration. For an appointment please contact the Audition/Interview Coordinator at (217) 424-6282 or at theatredance@millikin.edu. Interviews should be completed before the end of the spring semester, May 8, 2015.

Prior to auditioning, all students must first be accepted to Millikin University.
The B.A. degree does not require an audition.

Are auditions/interviews held anywhere else than at Millikin University?
Faculty attend auditions in Plano, TX in November, the Illinois Theatre Association Festival in January, and at the Chicago Academy for the Arts in February. If you are considering auditioning for Millikin at any of these auditions, please contact the Audition/Interview Coordinator at (217) 424-6282 or at theatredance@millikin.edu.

If you wish to be considered for the Musical Theatre program you may need to come to Millikin to audition.

Why are song selections at the audition limited to 16 bars for ballad and 32 bars for up-tempo?
The auditioners are listening for the qualities of your singing voice, rather than to the song. These short selections give them ample time to evaluate your singing potential as well as your ability to act the song. Also, 16-32 bars is the basic guideline for professional auditions.

Where can I find titles of musicals and when they were written?
You can go to the website called Musicals101.com. Choose the link that will take you to the Chronology page. There you can see what musicals opened in what year. Click on a decade either prior or post 1960 and you'll find lists of musicals that were written in that era.

Once you find show titles you are familiar with, you can then start looking for songs. Amazon.com is also a good place to help you search because they have short sound files of many Broadway recordings. Type the name of the show in the Amazon search box, click on the link to the original cast recording, then click on the sound bite of the song you'd like to hear. They don't play the entire song, just about a 20 second section, but you should find it helpful in getting the basic idea of what a song sounds like.

Your library or local music store should have books that have the sheet music for the songs.

What are the qualities of a good monologue?
Choose a monologue from a full length published play. Read the whole play so that you know the context of the monologue and the character's situation. Besides picking one in your age range without a regional dialect, pick one where you character is fighting to get something from a specific person, i.e. no dreams, no talking to the audience, no telephone calls, no soliloquy or self-reflective types of monologues. Do not choose monologues that are cited as "original" or written by "anonymous". As with the song, a monologue of 30 seconds is plenty for the auditioners to evaluate your acting potential.

Where can I find monologues?
Read plays. Avoid the monologues published in the many audition monologue books or on-line databases because those monologues are overdone. You might use those books or websites as references to find interesting characters perhaps, but always find and read the full play and then choose a monologue that is not in the published monologue book or on the website. Especially, do not choose monologues that are solo interpretive pieces that are not part of a complete play. These types of monologues may be appropriate for Speech Team competitions, but they are inappropriate for audition monologues.

Why are we asked to avoid regional dialects in our monologue choices?
The auditioners need to hear and to evaluate your real speaking voice without added regional dialects.

What types of scholarships are available?
Students who are pursuing studies in theatre may qualify for either a
College of Fine Arts Scholarship or the prestigious Dean's Scholarship
for Excellence. These scholarships are based on talent and/or academic
achievement and are awarded at the time of your audition, interview and/or portfolio review. These scholarships are renewed each year a student remains enrolled in the College of Fine Arts. Additional CFA Scolarship Information

If a student receives a scholarship, is the scholarship lost if the student doesn't commit to Millikin by the deadlines given?
As is the case with many universities, Millikin's official acceptance deadline is May 1st. At the discretion of the Dean, scholarship offers may be rescinded after the official acceptance deadline.

Are there student work-study positions available in the Theatre and Dance Department?
Yes, there are many work-study positions available in the department and across the university for students. Information is available through the Career Center.

Are students able to major in musical theatre and minor in something else, business, for example?
It's possible, but only encouraged for students with exceptional academic skills, time management abilities, and discipline. Other issues are time and expense. Adding a minor, such as business, may require an additional semester and/or overload fees.

Does Millikin do any touring with its theatre productions?
We do very little touring due to the constraints of the classroom and on-campus production schedules.

Does Millikin bring in any guest artists for the students to work with during the school year?
Yes, any touring dance company that comes to Millikin as a road show does master classes for our students. Other artists are brought in as well. For example, Kari Margolis, Thodos Dance, Alice Ripley and Michael Moschen have all either led student workshops and master classes at Millikin and/or created performance works with students.
Where are current students and alumni working in theatre?
Millikin alumni are working in many different venues: professionally on Broadway, on international and national tours, in regional theater companies, dinner theaters, cruise lines, TV and film. They also perform and teach with children's theatre companies.

For information on some of our alumni success stories, visit our alumni page.

Many current students work during the summer in various different venues gaining important experiences, as well as important networking contacts for their future careers.

Since admission to Millikin University is required before I can schedule an audition, how can I apply?Information for Admission